Dancers

DANCERS

Sri. Rajendra Kedlaya

Dr. Rajendra Kedlayais a scientist by profession and the guru of Yakshahejje, School of Yakshagana and Performing Arts has learned Yakshagana under the tutelage of Guru B. Sanjeeva Suvarna of Yakshagana Kendra, Udupi, Karnataka, India. He has won first prize in many yakshagana competitions and has performed nationally and internationally. Hampi Festival in Karnataka, India, Festivals of Asian Performing Arts in Singapore, Woodford Folk Festival in Brisbane, Australia, Association of Kannada Kootas of America, in the USA, are to name a few. His programs were televised in both Delhi and Bangalore Doordarshan in India. He also travels all over the USA to showcase Yakshagana performance. Rajendra Kedlaya was also very fortunate to be a part of an hour and a half duration one man ballet, a unique experimentation in Yakshagana art form called “Panchali”, depicting the story of Mahabharata which received much appreciation and accolades from the critics.

Kum. Jwala Rejimon

Kumari Jwala Priyadarshini Rejimon, the founding member of Nrityapriya Fine Arts Inc.,completed her Arangetram in August of 2015 with her guru Smt. Mangala Anand, who teaches the Vazhuvoor style of Bharatanatyam. After the completion of her Arangetram, Jwala proceeded to learn under the esteemed Guru Smt. Savithri Jagannatha Rao, alumni of Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts and direct disciple of Guru ‘Padma Bhushan’ Smt. Rukmini Devi Arundale. Jwala also learns from the Kalakshetra Professor, Smt. Nityakalyani Vaidhyanathan, who was the disciple of the celebrated Abinaya exponent Guru ‘Padma Bhushan’ Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan, for over 30 years. Jwala’s dancing has also been groomed by Guru Smt. Rhadha Ramanathan, the younger sister in the dancing duo of Kamala and Rhadha, who were taught by Vazhuvoor Ramaiyah Pillai and featured in several 1900’s films.

Jwala’s vigorous training paid off as she went on to perform at various prestigious sabhas in Chennai, including Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, R.K. Swamy Auditorium, and T.N. Rajarathnam Pillai Auditorium. She also received the opportunity to perform at the Karur Natyanjali Festival and at the esteemed platform of the Chidambaram Natyanjali Festival, where she received many praises as a young and upcoming artist. Jwala was also featured and broadcast live on the Nadaneerajanam series at Thirupathi, and has been featured on Kalaignar TV twice as part of their Natya Utsavam series. In 2016, Jwala became a prizewinner of the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana Bharathanatyam Competition, thus winning her a place in the 2017 Srimad Bhagavatham dance productions. She took a break from Purdue University for one semester to go to India and participate actively in the production rehearsals and the tour, as well as to refine her solo dancing with a focused and vigorous approach. The Srimad Bhagavatham tour gave Jwala the opportunity to bond with several other dancers in the production, most of whom were from Chennai. The influence of her guru’s and her love for dance have inspired Jwala to aim towards spreading knowledge and a love for classical arts throughout the younger generations of Indian children who grow up in America without much exposure to the richness of Indian culture. 

Smt. Aparna Satheesan

Aparna Satheesan, Artistic Director of Samyoga School of Arts and disciple of Guru Padmabhushan Dhananjayans, Guru Smt. Vyjayanthi Kashi and Regatta Girija Chandran, is a talented dancer, started dancing at an age of 3 and has performed for prestigious events in India and abroad. Prestigious events organized by ICCR, Soorya Festival(India), Guruvayoor Temple festival, Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana,  featured performer at The Balaji temple, Chicago, Light and Sound Show, Global Rhythms and many more are some of her major performances. She is a well known performer, choreographer and teacher who mastered in both Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi and teaches these dance forms for the young generation. She has won several awards and recognition at this young age and is renowned for her creative dance productions. In 2015, she won runner up in Bharatanatyam for Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana. Aparna has exceptional choreographic and musical sense. Performing for an event directed by renowned musician A.R Rahman had added more stars in her career.  She is a graceful and talented dancer who excels in nritta as well as abhinaya aspects of dance. Aparna involves herself to organize and perform in many charitable activities and has started a non-profit organization, Samyoga Foundation in India with this objective.

Smt. Savitha Venkatapathy  

Smt. Savitha Venkatapathy is an ardent learner, performer and teacher of Bharathanatyam and Carnatic Music. She did her bharathanatya Arangetram in 2005 with Smt. Lalitha Subramaniam and later joined Sri Mudhraalaya for advance training. Under the able tutelage and guidance of Guru Dr.

Lakshmi Ramaswamy, she learnt the nuances of the art form in Vazhuvoor paani which is known for its grace. With a flair for research in dance, she also nurtured nattuvangam techniques, theory and abhinaya from her Guru for the last 12 years. She performed bharathanatyam solos, duets and group productions in several well-known sabhas including Narada Gana sabha, Indian Fine arts, South zone cultural academy, Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, VDS arts academy to name a few. She did Bharathanatya Arangetram of her student in 2015 at Chennai. She is currently pursuing MA Bharathanatyam with Madras university. Adept training in Carnatic music for the last 15 years under Smt. Padma Sandilyan and Sri Srimushnam Raja Rao, makes her a multi-faceted artist. With a passion to teach classical art forms, she teaches Carnatic music and Bharathanatyam for kids at Indianapolis.